Stoke v Bournemouth Betting Preview

Stoke’s worrying form at the start of the season where they failed to win any of their first seven games has long been forgotten, as they’ve climbed to 12th in the table, one place and one point above their opponents Bournemouth. It’s six games unbeaten for Mark Hughes’ side now, winning three of their last four, though it should be noted that these games were against the current bottom-four.

Since hammering Hull 6-1, Bournemouth have only managed one goal in their last three games, which came just before the international break as they became the first side this season to suffer the ignominy of losing to Sunderland. They lost away at Middlesbrough the week before too, which means that the victory over Hull is now their only win in five. Away from home the Cherries haven’t been playing well at all, winless in seven and losing five times.

Whilst Stoke’s defence has improved greatly in recent weeks, they’ve still struggled with keeping clean sheets. They’ve conceded exactly one goal in four of their last six, but though they shut out the opposition in the other two these came against strugglers Sunderland and Hull. Bournemouth are far better going forward than either of those sides, so whilst respective form suggests Stoke are value for the win, we think you’ll get more bang for your buck by backing Stoke/both teams to score at 4.5.